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Congress Returns To Work, Senators To Meet With Obama
A group of Senate Democrats will meet with President Obama today to discuss overhauling health care, The New York Times reports.

Bloggers Scrutinize Fox News' O'Reilly's Past Comments On Murdered Abortion Provider Tiller
Some liberal journalists and bloggers are criticizing Fox News host Bill O"Reilly for the language he has used when discussing abortion provider George Tiller, with some suggesting that his harsh rhetoric incites violence, the New York Times reports. Tiller, who was one of a small number of U.S. doctors who performed abortions later in pregnancy, was shot and killed on Sunday while serving as an usher in his local church. On Monday, O"Reilly said that "clear-thinking Americans should condemn" the murder but also defended his past remarks about Tiller. O"Reilly said that "every single thing we said about Tiller was true, and my analysis was based on those facts."Salon within nine hours of Tiller"s death had posted video clips of 29 on-air references that O"Reilly had made about Tiller on past programs. O"Reilly has said that Tiller and other abortion providers conduct the "business of destruction" and that he "wouldn"t want to be these people if there is a Judgment Day." Media Matters for America on its site published a 2006 clip in which O"Reilly said, "If I could get my hands on Tiller," adding, "Well, you know. Can"t be vigilantes. Can"t do that. It"s just a figure of speech."According to the Times, O"Reilly often draws particular attention because his cable news show has held a No. 1 rating for the past seven years. Burt Neuborne, a New York University law professor and a former legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, said that a commentator"s language, regardless of its severity, usually cannot be treated as an incitement of violence unless it includes direct instructions to individuals. He added, "It"s important not to allow that to happen. It would have a dramatic effect on the ability to speak vigorously" (Stelter, New York Times, 6/2).
News of the day
Washing Hands And Wearing Face Masks At Home May Help To Prevent Pandemic Flu
The recent H1N1 pandemic has highlighted the importance of identifying public health measures which can help to mitigate flu virus transmission. Researchers conducted a prospective cluster-randomized trial to test whether improved hand hygiene or surgical face masks could reduce the spread of flu within households.
Diagnostics

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Implants 100th Heart Valve Replacement Without Open-Heart Surgery

Over the last four years, heart specialists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center have implanted an innovative aortic heart valve replacement using a catheter-based approach that does not require open-heart surgery in a total of 100 patients -- the most of any U.S. medical center to date. Open-heart surgery can require a two- to three-month recovery period, compared to only a few days for the transcatheter approach. The procedures were conducted as part of multiple clinical research studies of the Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve. Currently ongoing is the PARTNER (Placement of AoRTic traNscathetER valves) trial, a Phase 3 multicenter study led by national co-principal investigators Dr. Martin Leon and Dr. Craig Smith and focused on the treatment of patients who are at high risk or not suitable for open-heart valve replacement surgery. The SAPIEN heart valve, made of bovine pericardial tissue leaflets hand-sewn onto a metal frame, is implanted via one of two catheter-based methods -- either navigated to the heart from the femoral artery in the patient"s leg, or through a small incision between the ribs and into the left ventricle. It is then positioned inside the patient"s existing valve, using a balloon to deploy the frame, which holds the valve replacement in place. Both procedures are performed on a beating heart, without the need for cardiopulmonary bypass and its associated risks. "This breakthrough technology could save the lives of thousands of patients with heart valve disease who have no other therapeutic options," says Dr. Leon, the study"s national co-principal investigator, associate director of the Cardiovascular Interventional Therapy (CIVT) Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center, and professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Annually, some 200,000 people in the U.S. need a new heart valve, but nearly half of them do not receive a new valve for a variety of reasons. "This study may show that transcatheter valve replacement is a safe and effective alternative to open surgery, which remains the "gold standard" for most patients," says Dr. Smith, study co-principal investigator, interim surgeon-in-chief and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, and acting Chairman of the Department of Surgery and the Calvin F. Barber Professor of Surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The transcatheter valve procedures take about 90 minutes, compared with four to six hours for open-heart surgery. In open-heart surgery, the surgeon cuts through the breastbone, stops the heart, removes the valve and replaces it. The PARTNER trial is a prospective randomized study with two separate treatment arms. In the surgical arm, patients are randomized to receive either the Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve or an Edwards surgical valve via open-heart surgery. In the non-surgical, medical management arm, patients considered to be non-operative are randomized to receive either the Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve or appropriate medical therapy. The PARTNER trial is designed for patients with severe aortic stenosis -- a narrowing of the valve that restricts blood flow from the heart -- who are not good candidates for surgery due to age or other concurrent health factors. The PARTNER trial is also available at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center"s Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute, led by Dr. Karl H. Krieger (vice chairman of cardiovascular surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Philip Geier Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College) and Dr. Shing-Chiu Wong (director of cardiac catheterization laboratories at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College). The Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve is manufactured by Edwards Lifesciences of Irvine, Calif., which is also funding the study. Jennifer Homa New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center


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